Luke 10: 25-37
The Parable of the Good Samaritan
25 On one occasion an expert in the law stood up to test Jesus. “Teacher,” he asked, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?”(Did you catch that this person was an EXPERT in the law? And he was "testing" Jesus? That tells me that this expert had some conflicts with Jesus' teaching, and he wanted to toss out a tricky question to see if Jesus would say something offensive.)
26 “What is written in the Law?” he replied. “How do you read it?”
27 He answered, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind’[a]; and, ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’[b]”
28 “You have answered correctly,” Jesus replied. “Do this and you will live.”
29 But he wanted to justify himself, so he asked Jesus, “And who is my neighbor?”
(Do you ever find yourself asking this question? Who IS my neighbor? Does neighbor include people are not Christians, people who treat me badly, people who lie, people who practice what I consider to be evil practices, and so on...)
30 In reply Jesus said: “A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, when he was attacked by robbers. They stripped him of his clothes, beat him and went away, leaving him half dead. 31 A priest happened to be going down the same road, and when he saw the man, he passed by on the other side. 32 So too, a Levite, when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. 33 But a Samaritan, as he traveled, came where the man was; and when he saw him, he took pity on him. 34 He went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. Then he put the man on his own donkey, brought him to an inn and took care of him. 35 The next day he took out two denarii[c] and gave them to the innkeeper. ‘Look after him,’ he said, ‘and when I return, I will reimburse you for any extra expense you may have.’
36 “Which of these three do you think was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of robbers?”
37 The expert in the law replied, “The one who had mercy on him.”
Jesus told him, “Go and do likewise.”
What is Jesus saying here? For Jesus to say the the Samaritan was an example of love in this parable must have thoroughly shaken the Jewish law expert. The parable is offensive because the Samaritan was a sinner, but not just a sinner; Samaritans were a continuous source of difficulty to the Jews and their faith. This little bit of historical context will give that parable much greater meaning and depth in regards to what Jesus was preaching to the religious of the time:
The Assyrians took over Israel in 722 B.C., and took the majority of Jews captive. The remaining Jews were exiled. The Assyrians brought in gentiles to live amongst the Jews, and these gentiles brought pagan idols and pagan practices. The captive Jews began to worship these idols, intermarry with the ungodly foreigners, and taint the faith they once followed. In result, their descendants were called Samaritans rather than Jews. After 70 years, a remnant of the original Jews were permitted to return to the Assyrian-dominated area, and they began to rebuild Jerusalem according to the Jewish faith and morals. The Samaritans ardently opposed and undermined their efforts to rebuild the Jewish nation. And so, a great bitterness and hatred grew between the two peoples.
With this history and Jesus' parable in mind, Bible.org says, "It is not the person from the radically different culture on the other side of the world that is hardest to love, but the nearby neighbor whose skin color, language, rituals, values, ancestry, history, and customs are different from one’s own."
Food for thought. Remember Jesus didn't come to be president of a country or king of a nation. He came to be a savior to a condemned world of hard hearted, selfish people...us. We were in need of love then, and we are now. When we face opposition, let us look to his revolutionary love to move mountains, to protect and provide.
In the meantime, love God with your life before him. Love others as you do yourself.
